


Band Aids

by kracken



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Language, Lemon, M/M, Original Character(s), Preventers (Gundam Wing), Rough Sex, Yaoi, abusive situations, genius Duo, i really wish there was a tag for Milliardo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-01
Updated: 2013-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 18:06:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13840152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kracken/pseuds/kracken
Summary: When no one is qualified to do a certain mission, and all fingers point to Duo Maxwell, Milliardo reluctantly decides to contact him. What he finds is a genius, a man who refuses to fight any longer, and feelings he has never experienced before.





	1. Troubles

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. With Kracken's permission, I began manually importing her works to the AO3 as part of an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017.

"Simpson had a complete meltdown?" Milliardo Peacecraft sat back in his office chair, as his neatly organized infiltration mission collapsed around his ears. "He was the perfect team leader. He spent months readying his men. He knew the area. He knew the targets. He knew the contraband items inside and out. What does Psych say about this?"  
  
Une clasped her arms across her chest and replied, "Personal matters; a marriage gone bad. He couldn't handle the breakup. Psych recommends a desk job until he ceases to be a danger to himself."  
  
Milliardo raised a pale eyebrow. "Suicidal?" Une nodded. Milliardo turned a personnel disc over and over in his hands and then he swore, "Damn good men who have relationships! There should be a regulation against it."  
  
Une snorted. "We can't all be celibate hermits, Commander Peacecraft."  
  
Milliardo glared and then he stood and grabbed for his briefcase. "I shall retire to my hermitage, then, and try to find me a new team leader."  
  
"I've created a short list for you on the disc," Une told him, as she shoved her round glasses up higher on her nose, "but, I'm afraid, you won't find someone with half of Simpson's qualifications. He was our best infiltration man."  
  
"Not even in our pet Gundam pilots?" Milliardo shot back.  
  
Une frowned. "They're no one's pets, Commander. They come and go as they please and they bite if you aren't careful with them. Chang Wu Fei is at HQ at this time, but Heero Yuy is gone for the time being, without explanation."  
  
Milliardo felt the heat of anger. Heero had spurned his sister, Relena, refused to follow the conventions of society, and still played fast and furious with life, either on the side of mercenaries or the Preventers, when it suited him. Not just a lone wolf, but a rogue one. Wu Fei could be just as unpredictable, but at least he fought consistently with the Preventers and within the law. They had a touch of madness, all of them, Milliardo often thought, a disregard for their lives and an arrogance that was unparalleled. Even Trowa Barton...  
  
"Where is Barton?" Milliardo asked.  
  
Une smiled tightly. "You won't get his help. He made it clear, after his first year as a Preventer agent, that he was through with law enforcement and fighting. If I can believe the tabloids, he's currently with Quatre Winner." She shrugged. "He's an undercover operative, Milliardo, not an infiltrator."  
  
Milliardo said impatiently, as he headed for the door, "I do realize that, Commander Une, but at this point, I am allowed to grasp at straws."  
  
She chuckled, but it was a dry sound and without any real amusement. "We have two Gundam Pilot agents, Commander," she said, "And neither of them have the skills you need. Don't use beam cannons when you need a pen light."  
  
That rankled, but Milliardo let it go, because it was true. Pocketing his personnel disc, he went out of his office and found Chang Wu Fei standing in the hallway with a smug look on his face, his arms crossed across his chest in a perfect imitation of Une. Cut from the same cloth, Milliardo thought darkly. Honorable, but ruthless when they needed to be.  
  
"Yes, Agent Wu Fei?" Milliardo asked tightly. "He didn't care for any of them. They knew too many of his faults, too many of his secrets, and he considered them all high risk. Beam cannons. Une had pegged them exactly.   
  
"The ether was down, so I decided to deliver my mission report personally," Wu Fei explained as he handed Milliardo the disk. Milliardo knew that he would find it precise and bloody in it's detail. Wu Fei's expertise was only used when a site had to be forcefully secured or taken out completely.  
  
"Thank you, Agent," Milliardo replied as he tucked it into his coat with his other disk.  
  
"I over heard your conversation with Une," Wu Fei confessed and looked too much like a tiger sizing up juicy prey. "I have a solution to your problem. The only solution,"  
  
Milliardo couldn't keep his anger and impatience under check. "Do not presume-"  
  
Wu Fei raised a cool, dark eyebrow. "I know all the details of your mission. My companion is one of your team." He said 'companion' in a casual way, but Milliardo realized that he was speaking of more than a friend. "Since it is of some concern to me to see that he is successful," Wu Fei continued, "I wish his new team leader to be the best."  
  
Milliardo's jaw worked. He wanted to hear Wu Fei's suggestion, not because he intended to take the man's advice, but so that he could make a note of who not to use. He didn't want a bloodbath on his hands, he wanted a man who could slip into any installation like a ghost on the wind and complete any directives he was given.  
  
"Duo Maxwell," Wu Fei told him, when Milliardo didn't say anything. "He's on L2 colony, working scrap and ready for a change. You know he's the best at infiltration. Simpson is nothing compared to him."  
  
"How do you know anything about Maxwell and what he wants?" Milliardo finally replied.   
  
Wu Fei shrugged. "He likes to 'keep in touch'. He bothers me periodically with a vid call."  
  
Wu Fei eyed Milliardo. "You do know that he is the best. Call him."  
  
Of all the Gundam Pilots, Duo Maxwell had kept the lowest profile. Psych had signed him off as incredibly well adjusted after the war, and, by all accounts, he had lived a rather mundane life, without so much as a parking ticket, since then. Once in awhile, his photo would appear in an article, wondering what the pilots were doing now, but even they were hard pressed to find something interesting to report.  
  
"He's refused all attempts to assign him to missions, even important ones," Milliardo pointed out, "and Une considers him extremely untrustworthy."  
  
"Untrustworthy?" Wu Fei snorted. "Woman," he growled and it was an insult.  
  
Milliardo fingered the discs in his pocket. He remembered Maxwell from the war. Stupid grin, long hair, and an ability to get in and out of situations that had maddened him as the man's enemy. They had never met except over a vid line, but Une's reaction to him had convinced him that Maxwell was not Preventer material.  
  
"I will take it under advisement," Milliardo replied impatiently. "If you'll excuse me?"  
  
Wu Fei looked angry then. "If my companion dies because you chose the wrong leader-"  
  
Milliardo glared at him, ice blue eyes like steel. "Is that a threat, agent?"  
  
"Advice, " Wu Fei replied with a suddenly smooth look."You know who you need for that mission. Don't make the wrong choice because of the way the war turned out for you."  
  
The man walked away then and Milliardo was left staring at his back, furious.  
  
Duo Maxwell. Milliardo tried to fight reason for a full minute and then he took out his cell phone. "Records? Find me Duo Maxwell's current vid number."  
  
Milliardo asked the cab driver to wait. The man frowned at their surroundings, but a few more credits convinced him to brave the neighborhood.  
  
L2 was a mix of two areas, crumbling city and a surrounding wasteland of industrial lots. Metal processing, parts manufacturing, scrap dealers, and different types of machine shops climbed almost on top of one another in their bid for space. Looking up, Milliardo could see the bare bones curving roof of the hub and the patch of green that was the city.  
  
The city was slowly being repaired, recovering from the war, but L2 had never been a rich satellite, and Milliardo was sure, from the look of so many projects left half done, that corruption was siphoning off the money as quickly as it was coming in. Nothing new there, and he made a mental note to file a report with the government. They didn't like to interfere with a satellite's autonomy, but things were different now, and they were a union instead of a loose collection of governments.  
  
Milliardo straightened his coat and firmed his grip on his briefcase. He also checked his revolver in its holster at his waist, hidden by his uniform coat. He didn't expect that he would have to use it, but he was used to a lifetime of armed conflict. That particular habit died hard.   
  
"Fancy," a heavy set old man snorted as he looked Milliardo up and down. "Lookin' for a business?" Milliardo was polite. He gave a small bow of his head. "Yes, sir. I'm looking for Trans satellite Scrap Dealers."  
  
"Take fifty-eight lane to ninety-first, turn right, down to twenty- second lot," The man squinted as if he couldn't see that well. "Harbit never rates your kind. After Maxwell, then?"  
  
Milliardo was surprised. He didn't see any point in dissembling. His business wasn't a secret. "Yes, Preventer business."  
  
"Could see that." The man seemed disturbed, hitching thumbs through suspenders. He was wearing dirty pants and large, steel toed boots. His ragged shirt was grease stained. "Maxwell's okay. Young, and wild with it like they all are, but not a bad sort. Not in any peck of trouble, is he?"  
  
"No," Milliardo replied with a small smile of amusement. "I'm here to talk to him, that's all."  
  
"Good, good," the man drawled and then winked at Milliardo. "Watch yourself, sir. Things can get a bit rough down the lanes for Preventers in fancy coats. The police force is spotty."  
  
"I'll do that," Milliardo replied and shook the man's hand after the man had wiped it on a bandana and held it out. "Milliardo Peacecraft."  
  
The man's eyes went wide. "Ho! Ho! Royalty!" he chuckled. "I am honored, sir. Kirk Turko, Mayor of Section Eight."  
  
Milliardo raised eybrows. "Section Eight?"  
  
The man grinned. "We do have a sense of humor, sir."  
  
"I see," Milliardo gave him a small nod again. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Mayor Turko."  
  
"Likewise, Prince Peacecraft," Turko replied and nodded back. Milliardo made his way down the narrow lanes and wondered how they managed to get trucks or machinery down them. His question was answered when the dust, that pervaded everything, was kicked up and a transport lifted off carrying a heavy machine in its undercarriage.  
  
The people he passed looked at him with suspicion and open curiosity. They were all mostly dressed in overalls or nondescript clothing that looked tough and ready for anything. Many wore scarves over their faces to cut down on the dust or the fumes from some of the lots. There were a few shops that catered to the workers, most of them bars, but they were ramshackle places made from odds and end building material and it was hard to tell where they started and a construction lot began.  
  
An iron gate was the entrance to Milliardo's destination. In a place of space age plastics and aluminum, that was different enough to make Milliardo wonder. He entered and saw a trip light flicker. His presence was already being announced as he looked over the stacks of metal and old construction materials. Part of a ship hull was set like a center piece in the lot, very large and on end. Beyond it was a low building with something spray painted near the one door. As Milliardo came closer, he could read it. 'If you don't see it, we don't have it.'  
  
"Maxwell's humor," a dry voice said from behind him.  
  
Milliardo stopped from drawing his weapon as his mind reminded him that he was walking among civilians. He turned and saw a stick of a man with a crewcut and a laser scar along his scalp. His _expression was scowling, sour, and long suffering. He was taking off welding gloves, his face covered on one side with soot. His thick apron and sturdy boots were a contrast to the thin, filthy tank top he wore and the khaki shorts. He was a contrast in caution and foolhardiness.  
  
"It's him you're wanting, I assume?" The man growled deep in his throat as if he was going to spit, but he didn't, instead, it seemed like a wordless comment on the state of things. "He's in there, filing. Never seen a boy who liked paperwork that damned much. He liked it so much, I kept thinking he was sneaking off to surf porn sites on the ether, but... nope... filing." He looked Milliardo up and down and there was a tinge of concern in his sour face. "He can't have done anything wrong.... boy's 9 to 5 and to bed at ten." He shook his head as if he couldn't understand it. "I was piloting pirate freighters at his age and tearing up the town every night. I'd expect more out of a Gundam pilot."  
  
Milliardo frowned. "Does he live here?"  
  
"Yeah," the man grunted and took out a rag to wipe at his face. "Didn't seem right letting him rent a shack on his own. Needs looking after still at that age... people around here... good for the most part... but some... they could get a young man into trouble with hot air and bad ideas real quick."  
  
Milliardo looked skeptical. "From his file, I understand that he's been on his own from an early age. Your concern is admirable, but I doubt that you need to worry about him."  
  
The man looked troubled. He scratched at his short cropped hair. "Well now, my first apprentice got himself killed after a gang talked him into making some quick money lifting plating from some of Edgar Heally's big rigs. He ended up hamburger in the gears. Boy knew better than to loosen certain bolts, but the idiots he was with now, they didn't. He was a street boy too. Second one, he took off, too, listened to some sweet talking girls and a man with some credits." He frowned even deeper. "Guess I won't tell you what happened to him, but it was... ugly." He shrugged. "Just trying to say, 'Smart is smart, but young is stupid', always has been."  
  
"He hasn't done anything wrong," Milliardo assured him. "I simply wish to speak to him."  
  
"Ah," the man replied with a knowing look. "You're wasting your time. Other folks who came to talk to him, didn't get nowhere. He don't want to fight, you know? He just wants to... file." The man made a grimace.  
  
"I still have to try," Milliardo told him.  
  
"I suppose so," the man replied and jutted his chin at the door. "He's in there. Main office right in front."  
  
"Thank you, sir," Milliardo said and opened the door.  
  
The room smelled like cigarettes. An ashtray on the long, scratched and dirty counter, was full of them, stubbed out. A sign said, 'Put it out or I'll put you out.'  
  
A finger appeared from the other side of the counter and pointed to the sign.  
  
"I don't smoke," Milliardo said.  
  
Two amethyst eyes peeked over the counter at him and then Duo appeared as he sat up sharply. "Most people do around here, sorry," he replied cheerfully but there was a wariness in his eyes. "You're Peacecraft, right? I've seen you on the vid."  
  
Duo was short with wide, rounded shoulders. Slim, yet compact, Milliardo saw as he approached the counter and looked over it to the low table where Duo was seated and working. It was full of file cards, floppy transparencies for a computer storage system that looked ancient. He still sported his very long braid but it was attached to his belt by a tie, presumably to keep it out of machinery. His bangs were as wild as ever and his rounded face would have been devilishly impish if he hadn't worn that wide, good natured smile on it. Dressed in overalls, he looked cleaner than his boss, but there were still work stains all over him.  
  
Milliardo reached over the counter to shake Duo's hand. Duo's grip was firm, his fingers blunt and thick. "Commander Milliardo Peacecraft," Milliardo introduced himself formerly. "I'm with the Preventers and I've come to talk to you about a mission that needs your level of expertise."  
  
"Yeah?" Duo blinked at him and the smile never wavered. When Milliardo released his hand, he settled back into his chair again, fingers drumming the table lightly. "What would you need me to do?"  
  
"Infiltrate and acquire information on our target, with a highly skilled team at your disposal," Milliardo told him.  
  
"The name of this target?" Duo wondered.  
  
Milliardo glanced around them nervously.  
  
Duo snorted. "Nobody here, but us... and if you don't trust me now, it wouldn't work out anyhow."  
  
"Liddobeau Industries," Milliardo told him and didn't feel confident about revealing that.  
  
"Okay," Duo replied and then asked, "What kind of info am I supposed to get?"  
  
Milliardo gave him the laundry list. Duo whistled at the end of it.  
  
"And you think you need an entire team of experts to get in and get out of this place?" Duo wondered and smirked.  
  
"Their programs are secured with encryption, alarms, and delete key codes," Milliardo explained. "When we tried to breach their systems, our information unraveled and our systems were rifled with viruses. It is our opinion that an inside team could breach these systems."  
  
"Because security wouldn't be that destructive on the inside systems?" Duo surmised. He turned to a small computer and connected to the ether. "Well, that's assuming a lot. You're willing to risk men's lives on that bit of faith?"  
  
"Our information-," Milliardo began, but Duo snorted and shook his head.   
  
"Just like the old days," Duo grumbled. He picked up a coffee mug that had the logo and name of the scrap yard on it. He sipped at his coffee, put the mug down, and then began to type quickly on the keypad of the computer. Milliardo could catch the flickering rapid change of screens, but it was angled too much for him to see completely.  
  
"Look, Peacecraft," Duo said. "I have a lot of work to do. Pappy out there thinks this place runs on sweat and grease, but someone has to keep the records, make the orders, and keep the inventory straight. That someone is me. I like it. I'm happy. I ain't giving it up to run suicide missions for you. That's Fei Fei and Yuy. What happened to them? They run off chasing cars again? I hear if you fix bad dogs, it makes them nicer."  
  
Milliardo frowned and tried not to remember that he had called Yuy and Wu Fei mad dogs on more than one occasion."They are otherwise engaged. Chang Wu Fei suggested that I contact you."  
  
Duo raised eyebrows. "Yeah? That explains a lot. That man thinks he's a yenta or something, I swear."  
  
"Yenta?" Milliardo was confused.  
  
"The solar system's matchmaker," Duo looked a little embarrassed. "He thinks he owes me, you see. I saved his ass in a big way one time and there's this debt he thinks he has to repay me. He asked me how he could do that and I told him..." Duo trailed off, but his fingers never slowed in their typing.  
  
"Yes," Milliardo prompted.  
  
"I'm rambling," Duo replied, annoyed with himself. "That's got nothing to do with you... or, it didn't until he decided to mix you up with me. Just forget I said it and take yourself back to HQ, or whatever you call Preventer central. Tell Wu Fei to keep his paws out of my life while you're at it. "  
  
"Maxwell," Milliardo retorted in frustration, "You're not making any sense. I agreed with Wu Fei's assessment of your abilities, or I wouldn't have come here seeking your assistance. This mission is extremely important. If action isn't taken, civilians could die in great numbers."  
  
"Which is why I'm helping you this time," Duo told him as he slipped a floppy out of the computer drive and handed it to a stunned Milliardo. "There's your information, nice, easy, and bloodless."   
  
Milliardo looked down at the floppy in his hand, stunned. "This is..."  
  
"Yeah," Duo assured him. "Safe and virus free. Better get on it. I can never tell if they have logs on access information. They might see it and bug out."  
  
Milliardo opened his laptop on the counter and began uploading the information to Preventer HQ. On his cell phone, he called to confirm the receipt of the information. When that was completed, he put away his equipment and looked at Duo, who was methodically filing again as if Milliardo had already gone away.  
  
"My best men couldn't accomplish that," Milliardo told him.  
  
Duo smiled, but didn't look up. "I just have a knack for it."  
  
He couldn't go, Milliardo decided. Duo Maxwell was a living, breathing, genius. Without any reference or research, he had hacked into a system that had defeated the best minds and his best technology... while carrying on a conversation. Duo Maxwell had to become one of his men. Talent like that couldn't be wasted.  
  
"You're not leaving, are you?" Duo grumbled at last.  
  
"No," Milliardo replied, "Not until I speak with you further."  
  
Duo sighed. "Damn that Fei...."  
  
"Maxwell?" Milliardo wondered.  
  
Duo looked up and his dark purple eyes had hints of blue as well, Milliardo saw. Indigo, Milliardo thought.  
  
"For a complete bastard," Duo fumed, "Wu Fei is really good at figuring people out. He's playing you. You didn't have to come all this way to get me to do that. He could have told you, or called me. He wanted us to meet."  
  
"Why?" Milliardo replied. Maxwell was sounding decidedly unstable.  
  
Duo looked embarrassed. "He owes me, I already told you that."  
  
"Owes you what?" Milliardo persisted, getting irritated now.  
  
Duo became even more embarrassed. "I told him... I've had a whole lot of lonely in my life and that I could do without it. If he could do something about that... I wasn't freakin serious! I was just talking out of my ass, trying to be funny, trying to flip him off, you know? Let's not talk about it anymore, okay? You're just another in the long line of people he's shoved my way.... though, why you, I really don't know. You're a lot different from the others."  
  
"Others?" Milliardo blinked and wondered if he were dreaming. It would explain Duo's skill and their odd conversation.  
  
Duo retorted, "Look! I told you, let's forget it! You can go now. I am not going to join the Preventers or anyone else. I'm not going to pick up a gun and be an agent. That's final, so save your breath." He waved broadly. "Bye now!"  
  
Duo turned to his work and began filing, head down.  
  
The thought of Wu Fei playing matchmaker didn't make any sense. Milliardo couldn't believe it for a moment. Duo was playing some game, he decided. Perhaps he wanted Milliardo to think that he was foolish and unstable in a bid to get rid of him? That was more likely.  
  
Milliardos' eyes wandered to the thick window of the building, at the scrap beyond and the ship hull. "I want to purchase that. How long to repair it and get it ready for delivery?"  
  
Duo looked up, startled. "What?"  
  
"That ship hull," Milliardo pointed it out. "How long?"  
  
Duo's eyes narrowed, suspiciously. "Four weeks. It's in bad shape. What are you fitting it into?"  
  
"Class B-643 cruiser," Milliardo rattled off.  
  
Duo grunted, "You know your ships and you know that will fit into one... with some work. It's expensive, though."  
  
"Money is not a concern," Milliardo replied.  
  
"Of course not, because it's the people's money," Duo retorted."I'll do what I can to cut costs for them." He warned, "Hang around all you want, but you're not going to convince me to join Preventers."  
  
"I don't give up easily," Milliardo replied under his breath as he looked out of the window and wondered how he would explain his newest aquisition to Une.


	2. Grind

"He's coming by again," the man said disapprovingly.  
  
"Now, now, Lori, I'm a big boy," Duo chuckled. "I can handle him."  
  
"Why bother?" The man rubbed a hand over his crew cut.  
  
"Maybe I like danger?" Duo retorted.  
  
"Maybe you like being stupid?" the man shot back. "I guess a man will do anything for a piece of ass, even if it's another guy's ass."  
  
Duo blushed, but grinned fiercely. "I'm corrupting you."  
  
"You're giving me gray hairs," Lori complained.  
  
"You already have them, old man," Duo snorted and then they both fell silent as the door opened and a burly man shouldered his way inside. He was wearing overalls, had square jawed, blue eyed good looks, and an intensity to him that gave him an aura of 'dangerous'.  
  
"Duo," the man grunted as he leaned on the counter and looked over it at Duo. A cigarette hung out of the corner of his mouth, making a lazy smoke spiral over his head.  
  
"Nick," Duo said pleasantly back.  
  
Nick reached over a ham of a hand, twisted it into Duo's t- shirt, and dragged him up to seize a hard, vicious kiss. Duo grinned into it.  
  
"Tonight," Nick told him as he shoved him away again and Duo plopped back into his chair. "Six."  
  
"Six," Duo agreed.  
  
Nick nodded and then walked out, shoving Milliardo aside as the man was entering. Milliardo glared after him.  
  
"Son," Lori growled. "That man is trouble."  
  
"Yeah," Duo grinned at him, "but he only thinks he's in charge."  
  
"You like that?" Lori wondered in disgust.  
  
Duo shook his head and nodded to Milliardo, a clear sign to drop it.  
  
"Good morning," Milliardo greeted them. "I thought that I should confirm that you received payment."  
  
Duo looked him over with a raised eyebrow. "How do you do that?"  
  
Milliardo blinked, confused. "I beg your pardon?"  
  
Duo smiled and motioned to Milliardo, up and down. "How do you look so together this damned early in the morning? Do you have a little iron to press your uniform?"  
  
Milliardo was in his formal uniform, his hair neatly pulled back in a clip. Duo and his employer were dressed in ragged t-shirts and overalls that were already stained. Duo was wearing a bandana on his head, presumably to protect his hair from the grease, and his hands were protected by thin, leather gloves with the fingers cut off. His hair was a tangled braid and it was again tied at his belt.  
  
"I'm a commander and there are certain dress codes that I must follow," Milliardo felt the need to explain, though he wasn't certain why Duo was making him feel uncomfortable about being neat.  
  
"I see," Duo replied and Milliardo could sense his unvoiced laughter.  
  
"Duo," Lori warned. "He's a customer. Check the inbox and see if we've gotten paid."  
  
"Yes, sir," Duo agreed and pushed a few keys on his computer. He nodded. "Yep, paid in full. Looks like we have some work ahead of us, Pappy. You up for this?"  
  
"Is there a problem?" Milliardo asked in concern.  
  
Duo patted Lori on the arm, but the man jerked it away irritably as Duo replied, "Lori, here, is a war veteran. He has some mechanical gizmos that keep his heart going. He's not supposed to stress them. That's why he hired me."  
  
"I don't know why," Lori grumbled, "You cause your own kind of stress, boy."  
  
Duo grinned. "That would be because of your senility," he teased, but then said to Milliardo more seriously, "I told you that it would take time to repair that part. It's holed, some of the instruments are fried, and it has a twisted mainframe. We were using it for a planter."  
  
It was an opening and Milliardo didn't let it pass. "I don't wish to endanger Mr. Lori's health. I know enough about ship mechanics to be useful. I'll assist you."  
  
Duo made a face, a look of confusion mixed with disbelief. "You're going to get down and greasy with me?"  
  
Milliardo smiled. "Yes."  
  
Duo rubbed at his chin and then looked at Lori. "Your call, boss."  
  
Lori looked skeptical, perhaps a bit intimidated by Milliardo's status. "You won't get a discount," he warned. "That piece of ship is worth every penny I charged you."  
  
"I don't doubt that," Milliardo agreed.  
  
Duo gave him a hard look. "You won't change my mind," Duo warned. "You're putting yourself through this for nothing."  
  
"You are," Lori agreed. "He's a stubborn little bastard and, for once, he's right about his decision. " He leaned on the counter and glared at Milliardo. "He's given enough, don't you think? Leave him alone. Go back where you came from. We'll deliver the part when it's in working order."  
  
"I can't do that," Milliardo replied. "I have to at least try to convince him."  
  
Lori and Duo exchanged a look and then Duo grinned. "He's a lot like, Nick. He thinks he has to control everything."  
  
"Nick?" Milliardo echoed in confusion.  
  
"And you think you can handle him, just like Nick?" Lori wondered acidly. "One day, boy, your going to be wrong about that."  
  
"Probably," Duo chuckled as he stood up, stretched, and then moved out from behind the counter. "But not this time." He motioned to a perplexed Milliardo. "Come on, let's get to work. I think you can drop the fancy coat and tie first, though."  
  
Milliardo dropped his coat and tie on the counter. He unbuttoned two of his top buttons, showing a bit of his bare collar. Turning to Duo, he saw Duo opening his mouth as if he were about to deliver a smart remark. Duo went wide eyed, instead, and the comment died on his lips.  
  
"Shut your mouth, boy, and get the hell to work!" Lori snapped in disgust.  
  
Duo blinked and then looked embarrassed as he pulled his eyes away from Milliardo's small bit of exposed chest. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, Peacecraft, Agent, Milliardo, Zechs... what the hell do I call you, anyway?"  
  
Milliardo was surprised by Duo's obvious interest and it was a moment before he could gather his thoughts for a reply. "Milliardo will do, though I hope you will call me Commander, eventually."  
  
"Okay," Duo said with a snicker, but then he composed himself and said, "Come on, we're burning day cycle."  
  
Duo didn't proceed out to the hull immediately. He stopped to pile other orders where Lori could easily handle them, attached their slips, and lined them up near the front gate. Wiping his hands along the sides of his overalls, he grinned at Milliardo. "Are you sure you want to work in those clothes?"  
  
"They are meant to be 'worked in'," Milliardo explained as Duo gathered up tools, stacked more on top of a rolling bottle for a welding torch, and then slung a tool belt around his slim hips. It hung low and hung even lower once Duo started slipping tools into the straps. When he turned to wheel the tank, Milliardo could clearly see the small of his back, pale and perfect.  
  
"Allow me," Milliardo managed as he took the handle of the tank dolly. He brushed along Duo's side as he did so and smelled, not grease and sweat, but still something all together masculine. Aftershave? Scented shaving cream? The scent seemed to take Milliardo in a firm grip as soon as it hit his senses, and he found himself inexplicably wanting to sink his nose into the nape of Duo's neck. Duo was turning, though, and giving him an appraising look as if he sensed something himself. Their eyes met and both of them froze in surprise.  
  
Duo blinked and then shook himself as the strange moment passed, "Uh, sure... That would help."  
  
Duo stepped aside and Milliardo awkwardly recovered enough to begin wheeling the dolly. He was finding it hard to understand what had just happened. Duo seemed equally puzzled. As they walked to the hull, Milliardo tried to pin the feeling down. It had been a shock, almost a deja'vu feeling. Duo was a stranger to him, known by reputation only, but it had seemed to Milliardo as if a very old friend had been standing with him and he had only now realized it. No, more than a friend. Milliardo was a healthy man and he knew what a sexual attraction felt like. This touched much deeper than that. It was disconcerting, almost frightening, and Milliardo was not a man who was shaken easily by anything or anyone.  
  
Milliardo studied Duo as they reached the hull and Duo looked it over. There were several rows of hydroponic shelves, some potted plants Milliardo was unfamiliar with, and several stacks of what he surmised were some of the hulls components. Duo looked very serious, frowning as he weighed and measured each part of the job. His face was comical; a wide smile, overlarge eyes, and an upturned nose, yet it was handsome in a way that deserved it's own category. Handsome, in the long line of his brows, the cinnamon of his hair, and the odd blue of his eyes that leaned towards purple when the light hit them a certain way. Handsome, when he looked sideways, and was serious; revealing a strength to his features that was mature and sure.   
  
"I said, 'Do you still want it?''," Duo repeated and he was turning to look at Milliardo curiously.  
  
Milliardo snapped out of his own thoughts and looked around them with an eye as expert as Duo's. It was hopeless, of course. Nothing but devine intervention would be able to repair the hulk Duo might be a genius, but Milliardo doubted that it included god like powers. "It will do," Milliardo replied stiffly, and waited for Duo to list the reasons why it would never couple with a proper ship.  
  
Duo shrugged and pulled out a wrench and a bottle of aerosol bolt grease, "Okay."  
  
Milliardo wasn't sure whether the man was joking or not, he was hard to read. When he replied, he was almost sure that Duo was going to laugh at him. "Where would it be best for me to begin?"  
  
The laugh didn't come. Duo chewed on his bottom lip and then said, "I think electric panels and cell arrays. Concentrate on pulling them all out. We'll check the damage once we have them separated and where we can get a good look. I'll pull apart the bulkheads and see if anything's nested inbetween. They're probably full of debris and rust."  
  
He walked away to a section and began spraying bolts.  
  
Milliardo frowned, wondering what game Duo was playing. It would have been an opportune way of getting rid of Milliardo, by pointing out that the section of ship couldn't be repaired. Instead, Duo was busily using his light weight to lever off a stubborn bolt as if it were not only possible, but all in a day's work. When Milliardo turned to the electronic panels, and saw the sorry shape they were in, it occured to him that Duo might want him to come to that conclusion himself.  
  
"Not too bad," Milliardo announced and began prying off a panel, determined to keep the hull as his excuse even if it never operated as anything other than high grade scrap.  
  
Duo laughed. "No, not too bad at all."  
  
A headgame, Milliardo decided and soured on Duo immediately. He hated men who came at things sideways and used a man's own mind against him. He decided not to fall prey to it. He had a goal. He needed to focus on that and not allow Duo to manipulate him into giving up. That was something he was not prepared to do.  
  
Duo's cell phone buzzed. He cradled it against his shoulder and talked into it as he continued working. "Maxwell." He scowled and said with a harder edge, "You know he's here, Fei, you set him up for it." Duo listened as his fingers finished twisting off a bolt. "Yes... yes... yes..." Duo gave Milliardo a quick, darting look and then turned so that Milliardo couldn't see his face. "Yessss," he said in a drawn out, irritated manner. "That still doesn't give you any right... okay, but a six pack of beer and front seat ticket to the gravi-ball championship would have been okay." He was quiet as he started on another bolt and then he growled, "Bastard. You don't have a freakin 'companion'. Nobody can stand you. Oh... Owens... really? Okay, so it's all innocent and you didn't have anything to do with this... Got any chunks of ice you want to sell me as diamonds while you're at it? Mill already told me you sent him here, so cut the crap... What else am I supposed to call him? Shut up! I'm hanging up now... no, hanging up... not listening.... nope, save your breath... I'm going... bye."  
  
Duo hung up his phone and dropped it into a pocket. He seemed anrgy and embarrassed.  
  
"He's a jerk," Duo said at last as if he were talking to the bulkhead..  
  
"But also a friend?" Milliardo wondered.  
  
"We all are, in a weird sort of way," Duo admitted reluctantly. "Gundam boys only understand Gundam boys, and all that."  
  
"I piloted a Gundam," Milliardo found himself saying without thought. Duo gave him a long look and then he smiled almost shyly.  
  
"Yeah, you did , didn't you?" Duo added another bolt to a small pile at his feet. "Then this kind of work should be a piece of cake for you. We'll be done in no time and you can go home."  
  
"With you as an agent," Milliardo added stubbornly.  
  
"You can dream," Duo snorted.  
  
"Thank you, I shall," Milliardo replied in a formal tone and Duo laughed. Milliardo decided that he liked that laugh. It was honest, even if he believed that a great deal about Duo Maxwell wasn't.


	3. Terminology

"It won't budge," Duo swore as he gave a last tremendous tug on the panel.  
  
"Perhaps together..." Milliardo suggested as he left off organizing the separated pieces and came to assess the problem.  
  
Duo grunted, yanked off his bandana, and wiped at his sweating face. "The space is too tight."  
  
"No, not if we position ourselves correctly." Milliardo motioned Duo to go first into the two foot space between two bulkheads. "You are shorter," he explained when Duo eyed him with a confusion that was mixed with wariness. Milliardo wasn't offended. He would have felt the same if a man he hardly knew had crowded him into that tight space.  
  
Duo understood the principle and he nodded after a moment's decision. He turned his back with a look that let Milliardo know that he wasn't comfortable that way, and took hold of the panel. In that position, Milliardo was able to reach over Duo's head and grab part of the panel himself.  
  
"Together," Milliardo said and then ordered firmly, "Now."  
  
They both strained, muscles flexing. Looking down at Duo's head as he brought his weight and muscles to bear on the rusted metal, he was afforded an easy view of Duo's cinnamon colored hair and the flecks of debris that had caught there during the day. He could see a thick scar, moving the hair aside at one point, and a few knots that were permanent residents there. It made Duo starkly human at that moment, flawed, and vulnerable. It was on the tip of Milliardo's tongue to say something, to give voice to a feeling of concern and an odd protectiveness that wanted to know the cause of those hurts, but the panel chose that moment to break free.  
  
Duo wasn't prepared. Pulling back with all of his might, the sudden release sent him slamming backwards into Milliardo. He lost his own balance and they fell backwards onto the metal deck, Duo on his chest and the panel slamming down onto Duo's leg. Duo howled and cursed as he began to sit up and push the weight off, but two very large hands were hauling him up, away from the panel and away from Milliardo.  
  
"Where the hell you been, Duo?!" Nick bellowed into Duo's face.  
  
"Put me the fuck down!" Duo snarled and shoved at the hands ineffectually. "I was getting this hulk ready for shipment."  
  
Nick dropped him and Duo howled in pain again as he came down on his now bad leg. He sat on the deck abruptly and glared up at his large friend.   
  
"I told you I'd see you tonight!" Duo shouted angrily.  
  
"It's past that...," Nick snarled back as he switched his hot gaze to Milliardo, "and I know what's been keeping you. Shit! Don't you even care if Lori comes by? Slut! If I'd known you'd do it anywhere, we wouldn't have bothered messing up my place."  
  
Duo's eyes went flat. Milliardo saw it. Nick didn't. Milliardo knew it for the danger sign it was, had seen it in his own eyes when he had steeled himself to kill other men.  
  
Nick jerked a thumb at Milliardo, a clear signal to leave. "You got your 'piece', so that's done, but there's nothing to keep me from making you pay dear for it, so consider yourself freakin' lucky I'm letting you go. His asshole is mine, you got that? I screw it, nobody else, and he likes it, 'cuz I got the goods... know what I mean? You got nothing to keep him. He might think you're fancy, but it's what I got he'll come back for." He clutched his well endowed bulge as he said it.  
  
As if he expected Milliardo to run in fear, he turned his back and confronted Duo. "I said six. I ain't going all the way back to my place now. You put out for him here, you can dog it for me to." There was the sound of a zipper. "Get to it, and make it good, or I'll kick your ass and teach you a lesson for renting that hole out to someone else."  
  
Milliardo stepped forward. He could see Duo's face red and furious, his dead eyes full on Nick. Nick was about to die, but Duo needed Nick to come in closer. His bad leg was keeping him on the deck. His silence was his bait, and his inaction. It would cause Nick to become angry enough to reach for him.  
  
Milliardo came up beside Nick, looked down at the ample length he was holding out towards Duo, and said with an arched, pale eyebrow, "Is that all, sir? I've done better than that in a cold shower."  
  
Duo laughed, his red fury clearing from his face from one blink to the next. He kept on laughing, head thrown back and eyes dancing. Nick whirled on Milliardo and it was easy to take him down with a chop to the neck. He fell at Duo's feet and Duo snorted in disgust, "Guess I need to call for early trash pickup."  
  
"Your leg," Milliardo asked as he bent his great height down to look Duo in the eye. He didn't comment on what the man had alleged or threatened. He didn't insult Duo by making anything of his help. Duo, he knew, could have brought the man down without any help from him, only Nick would be dead, he thought, not just unconscious. Injured, Duo wouldn't have had the luxury to chance that approach.  
  
"Banged muscles," Duo grunted as he rubbed at it. "Doesn't want to hold my weight."  
  
"I'll take you in, then," Milliardo suggested. When Duo nodded, he lifted Duo in a fireman's carry.   
  
Slung over Milliardo's broad shoulders, Duo said, as if he were talking about the weather. "You know how it is. ... Nick's kind of dangerous. Gave me a rush. I knew he was going to go too far, though, and I was going to have to deck his ass, but I just didn't think it was going to be today."  
  
"And he's well endowed," Milliardo finished blandly.   
  
Duo snickered. "Yeah, that too." He was silent a moment and then he said, as if he needed to. "What he said... he's just a jerk, okay?"  
  
"Of that, I don't have any doubt," Milliardo replied smoothly.  
  
Another silence, as Milliardo climbed the steps to the shop office, and then Duo asked, "So, are you really bigger than that?"  
  
Milliardo stiffened and felt a blush. "I was trying to bring him into my line of attack," he replied.  
  
"Oh," Duo seemed disappointed.  
  
"But," Milliardo felt uncomfortable with blatant crudeness, especially after Nick's foul tirade, "I will put aside modesty long enough to... acknowledge that... I may have several inches on Mr. Nick."  
  
"Shit!" Duo exclaimed in astonishment.  
  
"What's wrong boy?" Lori called out as he came from a back room. When he saw Duo being carried, he swore. "That damned Nick! He-"  
  
"He didn't do anything!" Duo shouted back. "That man couldn't lay a finger on me if I was in a coma. How many times have I got to tell you that?"  
  
"We were wrestling with a panel and it came loose unexpectedly," Milliardo explained as Lori led him into living quarters and to a room and a bed that must have been Duo's.  
  
"It smashed into my leg," Duo added as he kicked off his boots and rolled his pants leg up. A dark bruise, as large as Milliardo's hand, covered a spot just below his kneecap.  
  
"Wimp," Lori growled and waved a dismissive hand at the bruise. He eyed Milliardo. "Watch that boy. He'll make up any excuse to be lazy and to have tall, blonde men carry him... damned pervert!"  
  
"It hurts!" Duo shouted back, pointing at the offending wound.  
  
Lori walked away, making a talking motion with one hand, mocking Duo. "Yadda, yadda! Next you'll be telling me a hangnail needs major surgery."  
  
Duo glared after him, shot him a bird, and then crossed his arms tightly over his chest and glared. "No respect," he growled.  
  
"Is there ice?" Milliardo asked. "We should keep the swelling down."  
  
Duo looked at him, amused. "Nothing bothers you, does it?"  
  
Milliardo smiled, understanding.  
  
"One man calls me his personal fuck toy and another calls me a lazy bastard who likes riding on big men," Duo said bluntly. "That can't make a very good impression, you know?"  
  
Milliardo shook his head and then he gave Duo a piecing look with his ice, blue eye as he said, "Words are only words. I can see for myself what kind of man you are."  
  
Duo looked bemused and curious. "And what kind am I?"  
  
"I haven't decided yet," Milliardo replied truthfully. "I'm still assessing."  
  
"Smooth," Duo grunted and then flopped onto his back as he yelled after Lori, "I don't care what you think, this hurts like hell!"  
  
"Sure, sure, Princess Sweet Pea," Lori called back, but a pack of ice came flying through the bedroom door and landed on the bed with a bounce. "Want me to call a triage unit to help you with that?"  
  
Duo took up the pack and grinned. "He loves me."  
  
Milliardo chuckled. "I think so."  
  
\+   
  
"If you think this is going to be an excuse to let you hang around longer, you're wrong," Duo said cheerfully when Milliardo came the next day. He had a makeshift crutch and he used it to hobble past Milliardo and out into the yard, tool belt slung low on his hips and tools jingling together.  
  
Milliardo frowned. Lori looked disgusted from his seat on the other side of the office desk. He motioned towards Duo. "Look, son, you want that piece, you gotta go after him and show him who's boss. He don't like wimps. He likes his men dangerous and controlling... bastards, in a nutshell. You keep backing down from him and he'll get bored real quick."  
  
Milliardo raised pale eyebrows in confusion. "I'm not in search of a relationship, sir. I came here to hire an agent."  
  
Lori made a face. "You lie like shit." He nodded to where Duo was disappearing into the ship. "I see the way you look at him. He gets under your skin real quick. He did mine. Made me feel sorry for him and made me take him in when I didn't give a flying crap for anyone else. Not that I regret it. He's attitude, but he's a good kid under that."  
  
Millirdo frowned. "I don't understand."  
  
"Who does?" Lori snickered, but then grew serious again. "Why am I throwing you at him, you mean? Well, you're different. I can see you're a steady hand and you treat him nice even when he's being a jerk. That boy don't know much about nice, though, so he's going to be suspicious of you. You'll have to do some proving to get his trust."  
  
"Sir...," Milliardo began, trying once again to explain his intentions, but Lori looked pensive and cut him off.  
  
"Look, say whatever you want, It's okay. If I were you, I'd wonder about him too." Lori leaned on the counter and looked hard at Milliardo. "He likes men to take charge and tell him what to do. He likes sitting back and just being the piece of ass. I know that's crude talk for someone like you, but it's the only way I know how to explain it. I don't know why the boy likes things that way. Maybe he'll tell you, because he's never told me. He don't let them hit him, or make him do what he don't like. Don't be stupid and think he's weak like that."  
  
Lori pointed a boney finger at Milliardo for emphasis. "You need to get out there. Take the helm if you want to ride the rocket. I think you're going to be good for him, or I wouldn't be bothering. Don't disappoint me, though, because I know how to use a beam cutter real well."  
  
Milliardo felt a chill at the threat in the man's eyes. He wasn't bluffing and it begged a question. "Where's Nick?"  
  
Lori smirked. "I have connections. He's been kicked off satellite for now. Doesn't mean he can't get back, eventually, but maybe Duo won't be here when that happens?" He sounded almost wistful.  
  
"You want him to come with me?" Milliardo asked, startled, so sure that this man had wanted nothing of the kind when they had first met.  
  
"Not as an agent," Lori corrected him, "but maybe you can get him something better? He needs more than some pitt bulls for boyfriends and an old man to annoy the hell out of."  
  
The com on the counter came to life and Duo's voice startled them. "I thought you were going to help me, Milli?"  
  
Lori punched a button and replied. "He's on his way, half a dick, and don't be disrespectful to the customers."  
  
"Better half than none at all," Duo replied cheerfully and Lori stabbed the button and closed the line with a sour frown and a rueful curse.  
  
"I'm old and I can't waste what's left of my life on raising another kid," Lori told Milliardo. "Get out there and show him what he needs."  
  
Milliardo couldn't find an apt reply to that. Lori wasn't about to listen to any of his protestations. The old man had his mind set firmly and it was clear, from his turned back, that he wasn't going to allow anymore talk on the subject.  
  
Milliardo left the office and found Duo sitting in a semi circle of parts, going over each one and trying to fit them into another part that he had in his lap. His injured leg was stuck out straight and out of harm's way, but it wasn't otherwise slowing him down.  
  
"Breather condenser," Duo explained without looking up. "Regulation calls for one-"  
  
"Every three feet," Milliardo finished. " I'll strip the panels and check the connections and the oxygen filtration feeders."  
  
"Good idea," Duo replied and then he said, as if coming to a decision. "Just ignore Lori. He doesn't know me, not really, and he worries too much about my future. See, he won't be around for long. Besides a bad heart, he breathed in some rad dust on a bad booster and it's hell on his nervous system. He's not the kind of guy to go slow and hard, if you know what I mean? Not when he can take care of himself. So," Duo paused as if he had to steady himself, but then he grinned. It was fierce and had nothing to do with humor; the smile of someone used to spitting in the face of fate. "He keeps wanting to marry me off. You're the first guy that got past the handshake stage, though. He's a picky bastard."  
  
Duo was very quiet then and Milliardo had to eventually fill the silence with an obvious statement. "You were listening, on the com?"  
  
"Yeah, " Duo admitted with a shrug. "The old man likes to tell me he's fine when he's not, so I rigged it to go on when I want it to, so I can listen in." He pointed to the com hanging from his pocket. "I also have emergency on speed dial A guy with his laundry list of problems has a reserved bed there."  
  
"Duo," Milliardo said carefully, not wanting to offend, "I am here only to recruit you as an agent. Rather than upset, Mr, Lori, though, I will keep that information to myself."  
  
"You're not my type anyway," Duo growled and Milliardo was surprised to hear a bit of temper. "Nice, blonde princes... Well, Lori told you what I like."  
  
"Why?" Milliardo asked and then nervously, "I'm sorry, that is not my business."  
  
"Damn right, it's not!" Duo retorted. He worked on his parts for a long stretch and Milliardo considered the topic, thankfully, closed, but then Duo said, as if he were musing over it himself, "I guess I have a screwed up need to have someone else call the shots. My perfect guy, a controlling bastard, makes me feel safe, wanted, and like I don't have to worry about things anymore. It feels good... having someone take care of things completely... I didn't have that. I always looked after myself with no one giving a damn. When you do that from an age where you can't remember anything else, you want to just give everything up and be a kid." He blushed. "I'm not explaining it very good, I know. It's complicated. Lori tried to get me to go to a shrink, but... I like it, and I don't let them go too far, you know, so what's bad?"  
  
Milliardo knew he wasn't expected to reply. He found himself looking at Duo, though, at the bent form pretending to work on his part, and felt a strong need to be that for Duo, to protect him and care for him. It startled Milliardo and he was shocked at himself, but he couldn't deny that it was there. He couldn't think of Duo as a child, because there was nothing of a child in Duo Maxwell, but he could think of him as a man, perhaps wounded in combat, who needed him to keep the enemy at bay. If Duo found it hard to explain his need, Milliardo was finding it hard to explain his own, even to himself.  
  
"If Nick comes back here, he will be sorry," Milliardo suddenly muttered and blushed as he said it, wanting Duo to hear him, wanting him to know that he was offering something when he could have sworn, in Lori's office, that he didn't want to offer any such thing. Faced with Duo, though, it was impossible to lie any longer to himself. His need to find an agent had turned into more, much more.  
  
"Why?" Duo asked and the tone of his voice was suddenly amused, hopeful, and a challenge all rolled into that one word.  
  
In Duo's world, people said what they meant, crude and otherwise. Milliardo knew better than to give Duo a reply that was phrased for a board meeting or a grand dinner party. He replied, blushing a little, but firmly resolved, "Because your ass is now mine."  
  
Duo blinked at him, shocked, a wrench clattering from his hand onto the deck, but then he recovered and replied in a clear challenge, "My ass is not that easy."  
  
"You'll give it to me before I leave here," Milliardo was quick to reply. He felt like he was on a battlefield again, trading hit for hit with a dangerous enemy, and using an unfamiliar weapon, but he had always been a quick study.  
  
"We'll see about that," Duo retorted and he was frowning. Despite that, Milliardo could see the sparkle in his eyes. He had wanted this too. They had both been dancing around it, not wanting to acknowledge it, and it was a relief to finally bring it to light.  
  
"We'll work now, if you like, and talk later about this," Milliardo suggested as he turned back to his panels. His first mistake. He heard a small sigh from Duo. Weakness. Duo didn't like wimps, Lori had said, he liked men like Nick. Milliardo had to prove that he could not only fill that man's big shoes, but be the better man.   
  
Milliardo turned to Duo, reached down, and hauled him up by his braid. It would have hurt him, but Milliardo had grabbed Duo by the collar as well. He gave Duo a hard shake, and then said in his face with a fierce frown, "I want my part. We're going to finish it, understand?" And then he let Duo drop back onto the deck. Duo grunted and glared, but respect was there in the half smile he gave Milliardo.   
  
Milliardo turned back to his panel and realized that he had enjoyed that. So much of his life had been controlled, by his family, by Treize, by Relena's government, and now by the Preventers. It had felt good to order once again, the way that he had ordered men during the war. That had given him satisfaction as well, but nothing that had been strong enough to warm a place inside of him that had been cold for far too long. They were a match. Across planets, out in the darkness of space, and here on a wandering satellite, they had come together all unknowing.... or not, if Duo was right about Wu Fei's intervention. If that were true, then he might have to thank the man for being so insightful.  
  
Milliardo still needed Duo as an agent, but now... It felt unprofessional, against regulations, and against the order that he had made out of his life, but... he didn't care. In that brief time, as mad as it sounded, he had developed a complete desire for the man working so close to him, a man, on first meeting, that he had thought had been on the edge of lunatic and certainly of no interest to himself outside of Preventer business.  
  
"Thirteen inches," Milliardo suddenly said to the panel in front of him.  
  
"You measured?" Duo snickered, but there was awe in his voice as well.  
  
"Just a warning," Milliardo grunted. "I know how to use it too."  
  
"I'll remember that," Duo chuckled, but then amended, "Not that you'll get a chance."  
  
"I get what I want," Milliardo assured him. "Another warning."  
  
He would in no way ever harm Duo, but the threat was part of it, he knew from watching Nick. Nick had forgotten the game, though, and had made the mistake of thinking that Duo was weak, that he would actually allow that. Milliardo hadn't needed Lori's warning to know better.  
  
"I've never been good at listening to warnings," Duo said, but he was grinning in earnest now and Milliardo knew that Duo had accepted him.


	4. Dynamo

"She needs an escort," a heavy set man was saying as Duo finished putting in a panel.  
  
Duo cast a look over his shoulder at the man, grimacing. "You worry too much," he said.  
  
"Not enough, and you know it,' the man retorted. "This is not a place for a young woman to be walking by her own self."  
  
Milliardo frowned at the man as he put down a load of parts. "Is there some danger? I am a Preventer agent."  
  
Duo snickered. "Wouldn't that be something? Prince Milliardo Peacecraft escorting Bellona Myers to the dance. News at nine. It would sure top, Gundam pilot hero." Duo sighed and turned to face the man, wrench turning over and over in one hand as if it had a life of its own. "Look, Bernard, Bell doesn't care about the dance, that's why she doesn't have a date for it. She likes her flowers. God knows, there's not a lot of that around here. You should encourage it."  
  
The man turned sour. "Flowers," he scoffed. "Where will that get her?"  
  
"Maybe off of this pile of crap," Duo grumbled back and waved his wrench dissmissively as he turned back to his work. "Go on and try to respect what she wants a little more, okay?"  
  
"Easy for you, you're not a father," Bernard snapped back and stalked away.  
  
Milliardo grunted and then began sorting through his parts.  
  
"Gonna ask me what that was all about?" Duo wondered.  
  
"The topic was apparent," Milliardo replied distastefully. "I often have the similar misfortune to be the target of every father with a single daughter."  
  
Duo laughed. "I don't think I'm in the same class, Mill. He's just looking for a date that won't pop her virginity. He knows I'm into men. It doesn't hurt to have a little notoriety too. People are more likely to keep their hands off if they think boyfriend can kill them thirty seven ways in under a second."  
  
Milliardo frowned. "I don't understand. Why is he concerned that she isn't social, and then determined to make her unavailable?"  
  
"Kind of cross purposes, isn't it?" Duo said as he straightened his back and chucked his wrench into a tool box. "Well, he only wants the right guys to come calling. Once everyone sees her out on the town, he thinks they'll all come calling papa for a date with her."  
  
Milliardo shook his head. "That is very confusing logic."  
  
"Not for a father, it seems," Duo laughed. "Come on, let's call it a day. Lori's gone out with his drinking buddies, so we have the place to ourselves. Let's pop open some beers and lounge in our underwear."  
  
"That doesn't appeal to me," Milliardo confessed, and then corrected himself. He had to shed that automatic, politician's politeness. "We should plan out what we want to do tomorrow."  
  
"Boring," Duo sighed.  
  
"Necessary," Milliardo snapped back, but he had another plan as well and he hoped that Duo would respond well to it.  
  
As they entered the office, Milliardo locked the door behind them. Before Duo could pass the computer, he had the man by the braid and was forcing him down into a chair. Duo struggled and swore, testing him, but Milliardo tightened his grip and used his greater muscle.  
  
"Log into this address," Milliardo told him and rattled it off.  
  
Duo struggled for a bit more and then sighed and did as he was told.  
  
"Now, hack into the main processors," Milliardo instructed.  
  
Milliardo had his own test. If Duo could pass it, if he could see how much he was needed...  
  
"Shit!" Duo swore not moment's later and Milliardo gasped in astonishment that he had been able to defeat a multi level security program of that magnitude that quickly.  
  
"Cluster Fuck compression bombs!" Duo breathed and his had trembled. "Those can wipe out half a satellite before you could kiss your ass goodbye. Who the hell are these people? I thought they destroyed those kind of weapons along the same time we got rid of the gundams."  
  
"We've been trying to hack into that system for seven months and all we've been able to accomplish is the login, "Milliardo explained. "You defeated it in moments. Now, download all of the information there to Preventer headquarters. They'll send troops to take out their hidden storage bays."  
  
Duo did as he was ordered and then he sat back, breathing hard. He wiped sweat from his face. "Shit!" he exclaimed again. "If they had gotten away with that..."  
  
"Do you see why we need you so desperately?" Milliardo asked. "Do you understand how many lives you just saved?"  
  
"I did that right here, though," Duo said thoughtfully. "I didn't have to be at Preventer's or holding a gun on anyone. I didn't need a badge or to have the high and mighty Lady Une being my boss."  
  
"That bothers you?" Milliardo wondered.   
  
"She tried to kill me," Duo shot back. "Why shouldn't it?"  
  
Milliardo raised an eyebrow. "I tried to kill you as well."  
  
"That wasn't personal though, that was war. She wanted me dead in a bad way," Duo told him as he looked at the hand that was still holding his braid tightly. "You going to do something with that?"  
  
It was hard to know where the line was. Milliardo suspected that the line often moved depending on Duo's mood. Did he want rough or did he just want to be commanded? Milliardo considered Nick and considered the man's language and his assumptions.  
  
"You're certain Lori won't be back?" Milliardo asked.  
  
"Very sure," Duo chuckled. "Are you scared of my Dad?"  
  
"Yes," Milliardo joked.  
  
Duo was suddenly testing again. "Me?"  
  
Milliardo pulled Duo in close. "No."  
  
"I'm not going to be your agent, or move away from this place," Duo affirmed, drawing that line at least. "What are you going to do about that?"  
  
"I'm assessing the situation," Milliardo replied formally.  
  
"Yeah?" Duo jerked his braid free and gave Milliardo a push so that he could stand up. He walked to the living quarters as he threw over his shoulder, "Why bother? You're wasting your time."  
  
"I don't think I am," Milliardo replied as he followed him.  
  
"I'll shower first," Duo told him, ignoring Milliardo's reply as he began stripping. "You can go second."  
  
Milliardo was treated to Duo's ass shimmying out of his overalls, rippling with muscle and rounded in a lovely curve to a waist as tightly knit as the rest of him. The small of Duo's back caught all of Milliardo's attention, a meeting of all points in a wonderful flat plane that begged for a firm hand to touch it.  
  
Milliardo was suddenly there, fisting Duo's overalls before they could drop past Duo's knees and using them to pull the man hard against him. Duo glared and made as if to push him off again, but Milliardo saw his eyes, saw the need for his strength there. Milliardo ran a broad hand along Duo's side, down to that perfect point and splayed his hand there. He looked down at Duo's rounded shoulders, at his chest and his hard nipples. His fisted hand was at Duo's crotch, bunching the material there, using it to stroke the obvious hardness underneath, and then he was releasing Duo and shoving him aside.  
  
"I will shower first. I like hot water," Milliardo announced. He had the door to the bathroom closed before Duo recovered. He heard a muffled, "Bastard!" and then Duo chuckling appreciatively.  
  
Milliardo grimaced as he peeled off his own dirty work clothes. His impressive erection sprang free and he leaned back to balance it. It hadn't wanted to stop, yet Milliardo knew that the time wasn't right. Duo wasn't his, yet. This wasn't going to be a conquest or a submission. This was going to be a delicate dance and he had yet to learn all of the steps.  
  
Milliardo stepped into the hot shower and soaped himself thoroughly. Stroking his thick, needy erection, he imagined his hand was Duo's tight mouth, sliding up and down it. Milliardo bucked forward, pretended to make Duo take it deeper, imagining Duo's cheeks filling with his cock.   
  
"Suck me," Milliardo whispered to the erotic image and felt a deep thrill that shook him to the core. He leaned into the wall, against the soap slick heat of the tile being pounded with water, and humped it, his hands down as if he were forcing Duo, jerking him up and down on his length, not enough to choke him or to hurt, but letting him feel who was in control."Suck!" he growled into the noise of the water.  
  
It wasn't enough friction. Milliardo sank to his knees, imaging himself pulling Duo underneath him, imagining himself mounting the man on all fours as he cursed and tried to throw him off. "Take it!" Milliardo growled. "Take my cock!" He slid his hand into the tight sheath of his hand, felt the throbbing, massive length of it and imagined it going into Duo, stretching him, filling him, and making him writhe as he was impaled. Milliardo shook, moaning into the pounding water. His mind filled with the vision of himself ball deep into Duo, the smaller body captured underneath him, waiting for his orders, his pleasure, and ready to be thoroughly fucked by the impossible length stuffed inside of him.  
  
A hand pulled his away from his throbbing cock and a mouth fastened onto the soapy length. The vision shattered and Milliardo opened his eyes to find a lithe body almost flat against the tile and under his own. A rounded ass was lifted and Milliardo had a clear view of a puckered entrance being inundated by hot water, as a talented mouth suckled him, milked him harshly, tighter than his own fist almost, as if Duo intended to pull it off with every hard suck.  
  
"Suck me!" Milliardo groaned and wrapped a big arm around Duo's thin waist, pulling him further underneath him. "Suck my cock!"  
  
Duo couldn't take it all, but he made the attempt, andt then he paused as if in sudden contrary defiance as if needing something from Milliardo to help him continue. He wanted...  
  
"Suck me off, bitch!" Milliardo felt his face flush hotly as the crude word came awkwardly from his cultured tongue, but there was a heightened sensation of power that came with using it, an even greater sense of control and Duo wanted that, wanted that leashed threat, that illusion of being controlled completely. That it equaled being cared for in his mind, was something for a psychologist to examine, but Milliardo couldn't deny his own response, his own rush of need that wanted to possess and control the strength of the man beneath him.   
  
Duo began taking him deeper then, sucking with greater vigor as much of Milliardo's cock as he could manage. Leaning into Duo, using him to prop himself up, Milliardo soaped a thumb and then worked it into Duo's entrance. Duo shivered and bucked, but Milliardo had him pinned. He worked his thumb in an out, making it disappear completely and enjoying the feel of the tight sucking sensation of Duo's flesh. Duo's ass danced as if it were trying to escape, but Milliardo kept his hold tight as he replaced his thumb with his middle finger. Thick and long, the feel of it's intrusion seemed to make Duo frantic. He shoved back onto it and took it up to the last joint as Milliardo began to fuck him with it.  
  
Milliardo came then, harder than he'd ever come before, and Duo swallowed, sucking like a madman to take it all. When Milliardo collapsed onto his smaller lover in exhaustian, his weight taking him down almost flat to the tile, Milliardo kept his finger still buried inside of Duo. Duo didn't protest. He seemed to enjoy that position, that finger deep inside of him, doing nothing except claiming him in a crude fashion.  
  
Shaky, Milliardo finally levered himself up to a crouch, still keeping his finger buried. When Duo looked up at him, streaming water, he pulled that finger out slowly, making him feel it, and then straightened and left the shower.   
  
Duo made a noise of complaint, but Milliardo ignored it as he toweled off. Duo hadn't come. Milliardo could see he was still hard as Duo sat up, legs sprawled open as he stared angrily at Milliardo. When he saw that Milliardo was going to leave the bathroom, he was up and grabbing his arm.   
  
"Hey!"  
  
Milliardo looked down at Duo cooly, though he was anything but cool playing this game. He reached down and jammed his finger back into Duo as deeply as he could. Duo's eyes glazed and he leaned into Milliardo to catch his balance.  
  
"Jerk off," Milliardo ordered him. "I didn't want this. I planned to wait and do things properly. You took that choice from me when you wrapped your lips around my cock like a bitch in heat. I don't like that, not at all." He pulled his finger out and then walked out of the bathroom.  
  
"Fucker!" Duo shouted after him and Milliardo heard his angry panting.  
  
Milliardo found his clean clothes and put them on. He was arranged comfortably in an over stuffed chair when Duo finally joined him. The man's anger was less, but Milliardo could still see it sparking behind his eyes.  
  
"I had to take a peek," Duo admitted as he sat on a work table and let his legs dangle, only a towel wrapped around his waist. "Once I saw what you were doing, that you were really that huge, I decided that waiting was for the birds. I needed that. You were doing it all right... everything. I had to be in on it. You probably think I'm a sick bastard, right? Needing to have you... call me things, treat me like that..."  
  
Milliardo didn't reply. Instead, he stood up and approached Duo. Duo eyed him warily.  
  
"I need you to prove something to me, before we go any further," Milliardo told him. "It was the reason that I wished to wait."  
  
Duo grunted, guessing what that was. "Nobody's ever cared about that before. They liked thinking they had it over me."  
  
"I don't," Milliardo told him.  
  
Duo grinned, but there was an impish humor too it; Shinigami daring Milliardo."Try me then."  
  
Milliardo had been trained since he was a boy. He was larger than Duo and stronger. He didn't want to hurt the man and he was careful as he moved in for the attack. He wasn't certain what happened next. The towel was a weapon, an old empty beer can, a rug under his feet, and the stiff finger Duo held poised in front of one of his eyes as he landed on his back with Duo on top.  
  
"I can drive this right into your brain," Duo promised and his eyes were deadly.  
  
"That isn't necessary," Milliardo assured him.  
  
Duo's cock was suddenly in his face, hard and tempting. "Suck me, then, Milli, if you want to live."  
  
That wasn't part of the game. Milliardo dared and shoved Duo off of him, making the man land on his ass. "No, and I told you why already," he replied and went to sit in his chair again as he asked casually, "Is there anything else to drink beside beer?"  
  
"Bastard," Duo growled, but there was respect in the tone of that curse. He stood, gave his erection a hard stroke, and replied, "I'll go take care of this and then I'll see what Lori has stashed around here."  
  
Milliardo watched him go and then sank back into the chair as he finally allowed himself to react. He felt weak, as if he had just run a marathon or fought a day long battle in a hot mobile suit. He had just opened the door and let his inner desires run rampant. For a man who prided himself on his control, on his impeccable restraint in all things, it was a life changing moment. Far from courts and halls of government, he was sitting in a dilapidated work shop, waiting on a crude drink, and contemplating a relationship that seemed the stuff of torrid, elicit back rooms. He hadn't like the end fight with it's violence. He had his own lines in the sand and Duo would have to accept that. They were at the give and take before the launch of their relationship, going through their own personal check lists, and it wasn't going to be easy..   
  
Milliardo recalled Duo's tight mouth sucking him, his lithe body in his strong grip, and felt himself go hard again. He wasn't sure what was in store for their future, but he knew that he didn't want to lose this, didn't want to lose Duo whether he became an agent or not. His life was already becoming inexorably twined with the living dynamite that was Duo Maxwell.


	5. Complications

Duo was carrying groceries for a small wizened old lady who was walking ahead of him, motioning with her hand animatedly as she talked. He nodded to everything she said, smiling and saying repeatedly, "Yes, ma'am."   
  
Milliardo raised a pale eyebrow as the old woman finally stopped at a ramshackle apartment building, patted Duo on the arm, and then took her bags inside. Duo chuckled, scratched his head, and began heading back for the scrap yard. Milliardo moved to intercept him, smiling as well at the picture of  Duo acting the part of  boy scout.   
  
"Heard you're single now, " a man growled as he came out of nowhere and hooked an arm around Duo's neck. Duo stiffened as the arm closed tight, forcing him to stop as the hulking man with a crew cut, leaned in close and began whispering something with a glint in his eye. Duo listened, frowning sourly.   
  
Milliardo didn't need any one to tell him that this was another of Duo's lovers. The man's body language was familiar and over bearing.   
  
"A nice piece like you needs someone like me," the man said more loudly, sounding angry at something Duo had said. "I know I left you, but Logan just didn't measure up. He rolls over and begs too damn easy. I like a fight and you like riding my big stick , so let's let's forget what happened and go fuck.." He clapped a hand against Duo's cheek and then curled it behind Duo's neck. Grinning like a wolf ready to devour a meal, he jerked Duo along with him into a side street.   
  
Milliardo's first reaction was to rescue Duo, but he knew that Duo didn't need it. Duo had gone willingly with a man who had spoken his language. Still, his concern for Duo urged Milliardo to at least see where the man was taking him, even as he chewed over the night before, wondering how he had come up lacking, so lacking that Duo had felt the need for someone else.   
  
Milliardo found them under a fire escape. They looked as if they were wrestling for a moment, but then the man was jerking on Duo's pants and chuckling. "Come on, bitch, and bend over for me. I want to see that round ass up in the air." Duo's pants came down and the man mauled Duo's ass with his big hands, kneading and squeezing as if he couldn't get enough of him.   
  
Duo struggled, but it was only token. He seemed to enjoy the man roughing him up, pulling, squeezing, and using his body as if it were a malleable doll. It was part of the control, Milliardo realized, that leashed violence that never went over the edge, but threatened to. The man owned him at that moment and Duo let him, playing at being weak, but defiant.   
  
The man groaned. "I'm not gonna make it. Suck me off!" He grabbed Duo and forced his face downward as he opened his pants and let out a very impressive erection. "Swallow my cock and suck it down, bitch. You know you want it."   
  
Duo struggled, tried to thrust back and away, but the man had a hard grip on his head. He grabbed his big erection and forced himself between Duo's lips. Jerking Duo's head up and down furiously, Duo's mouth filled to capacity, he fucked Duo's mouth.   
  
He was right that he wasn't going to last long. The man came with a shout, and a low growl, and then he was pulling Duo up and laughing. "Good, boy!" he crooned, kissing Duo's semen covered lips and then tucking Duo hard under his big arm. "Come with me, now. I'll take care of you."   
  
Milliardo watched Duo's face. It had never  looked weak or beaten. Instead, it looked suddenly warm and pleased. He went with the man and leaned into his embrace.   
  
Milliardo ached. He retraced his steps and took some time to arrive at the scrap yard. He hadn't found the sex act exciting in any way. His emotions had run the gamut between hurt and confused, to hate for the man who had been using Duo. When Duo finally appeared through a back door of the shop, buttoning his overalls, Milliardo was ready to ignore what had just happened, and ready to let Duo go. Confronted by the man now, Milliardo was confused again, his heart telling him that it wasn't going to be that easy.   
  
"Something wrong?" Duo asked, but he seemed distant, perhaps not really caring about the answer.   
  
Milliardo suddenly grabbed Duo by his overalls and jerked him close, letting his fury bubble over. "You will not fuck any other man while we are together. You're mine." He shook Duo hard a few times and then let him drop. Hooking a hand behind Duo's head, he pulled him in close, ice blue eyes glittering with emotions. Milliardo thought that he could smell the man's semen on Duo's breath and see slight bruising from the force of the man's excitement.   
  
Milliardo said, enunciating each word, "I will take care of you, no one else."   
  
"I need..." Duo floundered helplessly, but he looked into Milliardo's eyes with hope. "I need someone to...I just can't...I can't help it!" he shouted fiercely and one of his fists pounded once on Milliardo's chest."If you want me, you have to keep me!"   
  
Milliardo grabbed Duo, a hand on either side of his face. "Have you considered, that you need that from them, to force you, to control you, because they aren't who you really want? You need and you satisfy that need, absolved from guilt because you call it something else, demand that someone do it to you, so you can play the victim. You want love, can't you see that?" He pointed to Duo's heart. "You want to be taken care of here."   
  
Duo blinked at him and Milliardo saw a shimmer of tears before Duo half turned away, scowling fiercely to cover it. "You know so much about me?"   
  
"I do," Milliardo whispered.   
  
"How?" Duo choked out, hands clenched into fists.   
  
"Because I care about you... love you... and they don't," Milliardo said and saw Duo stiffen. "They'll never give you what you truly want because they only want to fuck you."   
  
Milliardo moved up behind Duo and wrapped arms around him. "What did you feel... with him?"   
  
Duo took an unsteady breath. "He tossed me to the curb before, but he was good. You were good too, but... you didn't really want to make it rough enough. You were holding back when I needed that really bad."   
  
"Why?" Milliardo wondered, kissing the side of Duo's face.   
  
" 'cuz it shows me how much you want me, how you want to... keep me," Duo replied, sounding uncertain about revealing that.   
  
"You don't trust emotions to be enough, do you?" Milliardo guessed.   
  
Duo didn't speak for a long moment and then he nodded, swallowed hard, and said, "Fucking's a lot more basic and trustworthy than... love."   
  
"Tell me how you feel... about me," Milliardo asked.   
  
Duo tightened and hunched into himself. "I... I think I love you too. It's scary and strong and I don't know what to do about it. I've never felt this way before. I don't know if I can trust it so... I wanted to be a good fuck for you, just to be sure."   
  
"And you wanted to have that man fuck you, because...?" Milliardo pressed.   
  
Duo shivered. "Insurance policy? In case you dumped me?"   
  
"Or to compare us... to be sure about how you feel?" Milliardo asked, not letting him give the easy answer.   
  
Duo swallowed again and then said, "Yeah, I think so."   
  
"You left him," Milliardo observed.   
  
"Yeah, had to go to work," Duo evaded.   
  
"Duo," Milliardo pressed and nibbled his earlobe.   
  
Duo's skin turned red and he said, "He was stupid and he... didn't feel like you. I wanted you, kept thinking about you even when he jerked out that big... well... I guess there's more to life..."   
  
"I don't expect you to trust me right away," Milliardo told him. "But give me a chance, please?"   
  
Duo nodded, ducking his head. "Yeah... sorry. Start again?"   
  
"No," Milliardo said as he turned Duo and kissed his forehead, not wanting to taste that man on Duo's lips. "Then I would have to pretend that we didn't make love in the shower."   
  
"Make love?" Duo snickered. "More like, humped like camels."   
  
"Like camels?" Milliardo raised eyebrows and chuckled.   
  
"Yeah," Duo laughed as well. "I saw-"   
  
"Are you freakin' done now?" Lori's acidic voice came from the back room. "I need to get some goddam work done!"   
  
Milliardo colored and pulled at his collar in embarrassment. "Yes, sir!" he replied. "I'm very sorry, sir."   
  
"Yeah, get the hell to work or go find a room!" Lori grumbled as he came into the office with a steaming cup of coffee. He slumped into a chair, sipped loudly, and jabbed a finger at the door. An obvious dismissal.   
  
Duo took a breath to steady himself and then he pulled Milliardo along with him as he headed for the door. "Come on, let's get the welding done on panel six. We can talk love life and my screwed up mental state later."   
  
"Better set aside a few months for that," Lori mumbled over the rim of his coffee cup.   
  
Firm, Milliardo told himself, yet caring. Don't back down and don't take the diplomatic tone with Duo. He didn't understand it. He needed blunt and almost crude. He wanted direction. He wanted orders... yet he wanted his autonomy too, and striking that balance was going to be the most difficult task of all.   
  
"Don't screw up my hull!" Milliardo growled as he collared Duo and pulled him to a blown fuse. "That could have failed when we were connecting oxygen and blown a hole through one of us."   
  
Duo grunted. "Blame Lori, he's the one who bought the cheap part."   
  
Milliardo glared. "I blame you for not testing it."   
  
"Okay, okay," Duo groused as he bent to replace it, but he was looking relaxed and not angry. Control. Protection. Direction.   
  
Duo's cell phone beeped. He took it out as he continued to work, cradling it between chin and shoulder. "Maxwell..."   
  
Duo listened and then looked angry. "He's not leaving until I have his hull done," he said. He listened a moment and then snarled. "He told me tha0t." Another pause and then a heavy sigh. "Okay." Duo scratched his head and looked at a loss. "Yeah, we've been... getting along. Guess that's not getting anywhere if he's gotta leave."   
  
Milliardo yanked the cell away from his ear. "Is this Chang?"   
  
Wu Fei sounded cautious. "Yes, sir."   
  
"Explain."   
  
"You're being recalled," Wu Fei told him. "They want you to deliver an offer to Maxwell and then return to your duties."   
  
"Don't they realize how important he is?" Milliardo exclaimed.   
  
"He's a wildcard and you know it," Wu Fei replied. "They know they can't depend on him unless he commits one hundred percent to working for Preventers."   
  
Milliardo tossed the cell to Duo and turned away, furious.   
  
"Okay, well... talk to you later, Chang," Duo said uncertainly, and then he pocketed the cell. He continued to work on the fuse.   
  
"I need your decision," Milliardo growled as he turned back to him.   
  
Duo shrugged.   
  
"Then let me take the decision from you," Milliardo said. "You will pack your things and say your goodbyes."   
  
Duo blinked. "Just like that?"   
  
There was a world of insecurity in Duo's eyes.   
  
"I'll need this hull shipped and I'll need you to finish working on it on site," Milliardo told him and saw Duo's insecurity lessen and turn into eagerness.   
  
"I'm certain orders are waiting for me at my room," Milliardo told him. "They won't give me much time to respond."   
  
Duo thought for a moment and then nodded. "I know someone with a freighter ship. Their birth is large enough. It'll cost you to get bumped up in the shipping roster, though."   
  
"Preventer's credit," Milliardo assured him.   
  
Milliardo grabbed Duo suddenly by the shoulder and pulled him up. He bent to look very closely into Duo's face. "I will take care of you," he said fiercely and then gave Duo a hard push. "Now, follow orders."   
  
Duo grinned and then was suddenly off the ground and into Milliardo's startled arms. Legs wrapped around him tight, as well as muscled arms, and then Duo attacked his mouth with his own. It wasn't loving, or feminine. It wasn't submissive. It was strong and forceful and all Duo. The legs wrapped around him had rock hard muscle. They bruised flesh and squeezed internal organs. Duo humped him rapidly in a crude manner, erection thumping Milliardo's groin, and then Duo was jumping off and walking away, braid swinging behind him.   
  
"Like jet fuel," Milliardo breathed, his body aching and wishing it had gone further. He knew what he had to do in the next moment. His hand snaked out and grabbed Duo's braid. He hauled him back and into an alcove of metal and open circuitry and then shoved Duo down onto his knees. "You left something unfinished," he told him as he undid his pants. "Finish it. Now."   
  
Afterward, Milliardo felt a deep satisfaction, both sexually and emotionally. Duo seemed a part of him, more than ever, and he could see that Duo was looking more confidant, more open, as he went to arrange transport for the hull. He hadn't needed to hurt Duo or debase him. He had simply been strong and unapologetic about his desires.   
  
Lori met him at the gate of the salvage yard after he had caught his breath and put his clothing back into place. The man was frowning and wiping his hands on a rag. "Duo told me that you're both taking off. You're clever, I'll give you that, and I guess I have to thank you." He paused, swallowed, and then looked very hard at the rag. "Doc said I don't have long. I don't want him seeing me when... well, you know."   
  
"I'm sorry," Milliardo said, feeling how hallow that sounded.   
  
Lori shrugged and grimaced. "I'm old and I used up all my luck, I guess. That's my own business. Make Duo yours. Don't let him come back and rot here. That boy's crazy, that's true, but I can see you're willing to take him in and treat him right, maybe keep him from wanting jerks hurting him and making him trash. He's a good kid, heart of gold, really. Make him see that."   
  
"I... I love him, "Milliardo admitted, knowing that he should say it aloud, to this man who needed to hear it. "I'll take care of him, if he'll let me."   
  
Lori grinned and it seemed so much like Duo's manic smile that Milliardo blinked, wondering if there was any genetic connection between the two. "See, you know how to treat him, despite how he acts. I don't have to worry. I'll say my goodbyes to him, now."   
  
Lori nodded and Milliardo watched him walk back to the office and felt sadness eat at him. It felt wrong to take Duo away from a man so close to his time, but he had respect for the man's wishes. He looked over the ramshackle yard and saw a place that was a waste land for Duo. It was a place for old men to end their days, not young men with so much potential. The eagerness in Duo's eyes had convinced him of that. No matter what Duo said, he was excited about going with Milliardo. He would make certain that Duo didn't regret it.


	6. Sugar and Spice

"Have everything that you need?" Milliardo asked with a raised pale eyebrow.  
  
Duo snorted around a cookie. Sitting next to his lover on his private shuttle, Duo had been taking full advantage of the staff. The tray in front of him had a hazelnut coffee, two chocolate dipped croissants, cookies, and a pastry with cream cheese filling.  
  
"I didn't know that you had such... a sweet tooth," Milliardo chuckled.  
  
Duo swallowed, took a sip of coffee, and then grinned. "I don't," he replied, "But I don't usually get a chance to get food like this. Unless you're in the main city, you're stuck with Trina's and she sticks mainly to fried breads and powdered cookies along with her synthetic meat patties and reconstituted scrambled fake eggs."  
  
Milliardo grimaced. "It was amazing that she could make those kind of ingredients appear to be food."  
  
Duo snickered and then he looked suddenly pensive. "Lori could cook... kind of."  
  
Milliardo reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "It's what he wanted."  
  
"I know," Duo murmured. He blinked and then recaptured his grin. "So, where am I going to be bunking once we get to Earth?"  
  
Milliardo imagined Duo set loose, free to grow uncertain and needy, and free to search out yet another safety net in the form of someone besides Milliardo. He reached out and took a firm hold on Duo's braid. "You will be staying with me."  
  
Duo seemed to drink in that firm grip, as comforting to him as a caress. His eyes were challenging, though, denying any claim on his person. If he strayed, it was his business, that look said. Like an alley cat, Milliardo thought, as he gave the braid a sharp tug and then let go. A stray stayed when it wanted caresses and food, but ultimately it came and went as it pleased.  
  
"Maybe Fei will think he's finally off the hook if I do stay with you," Duo said. "I'm really sick of his need to pay his debts."  
  
"I don't appreciate his meddling either," Milliardo confessed, "But I will have to thank him for directing me to you."  
  
"I don't want to see Heero... or Trowa, okay?" Duo told him. "They're nuts. Fei's a little saner and Quatre's okay, but those two..." He frowned. "They just don't know how to be normal and they make me think about the war too much."  
  
"They are the best agents in Preventers," Milliardo replied, "but I agree that they're... unstable."  
  
Duo was quiet and then he gave Milliardo a sideways look. "Did you think I was like that?" He colored a little and then added, "I guess I'm not normal, but someone with my kind of life wouldn't be. I just don't make it my sole purpose in life to be the best killer in the Earthsphere. I think wanting a good fuck, and some rough and tumble, isn't that bad."  
  
"Unless that's all you want," Milliardo replied thoughtfully.  
  
"It passes the time," Duo retorted with a glint in his eye.  
  
"Passes the time," Milliardo repeated and didn't have to say anything more. Duo understood and looked angry for a moment before he slumped in his seat and sipped at his coffee.  
  
"I get bored like anyone else," Duo mumbled over the rim of his cup. "Doesn't mean I didn't like my life there."  
  
Milliardo grabbed Duo's chin and turned Duo's face so that they were almost nose to nose. "You were searching for what you didn't have there."  
  
Duo pulled his chin away sharply. "And you have it?"  
  
"You decide," Milliardo replied.   
  
"It's not all about sex," Duo warned him.  
  
"It's about helping old ladies home with their groceries," Milliardo said softly, "Escorting a man's daughter to a dance. Helping an old man run his business. It's about feeling safe and having a home that won't disappear. It's about, perhaps, having the same thing as all of those people you've been helping."  
  
"I won't get that working for Preventers," Duo grated out and looked angry again "I'm not getting it now. I've just been kicked out of my home by a man who was like a father to me."  
  
Milliardo saw an almost manic tremor in Duo's face and knew by that how much he had been covering up. The food had just been a distraction; a focus to keep Milliardo from looking too closely at him.  
  
Milliardo took hold of Duo's hand and squeezed painfully tight. He wanted to tell the truth and say, 'I'm not a fool to promise you what no one in life can. I can't see the future. I can only tell you that I want you with me and that I care for you.', but Duo needed strength and an absolute, so, instead, he said, "Your home is with me now. I will take care of you."  
  
Duo took an unsteady breath and he didn't repeat that he only wanted to stay until his work was done. That gave Milliardo hope.

+  
  
Duo turned on his heel and looked over the apartment with puzzled eyes.  
  
"Something wrong?" Milliardo wanted to know as he tossed aside his coat and loosened his tie.  
  
"I was expecting... more," Duo replied and then opened a door and found a closet. "No secret doors leading to a big assed palace, I guess?"  
  
"Did you want it to be like that?" Milliardo was frowning. He hoped that it wasn't the old story, someone just interested in his position or his wealth.  
  
"No, actually," Duo said as he grinned and turned back to Milliardo. "I like this a lot better. It's more what I'm used to. I was really afraid that I was going to have servants trying to wipe my ass."  
  
"I do have a large estate, but I spend most of my time here," Milliardo explained and smiled in relief. "Servants can be very tiresome. I like my privacy."  
  
Duo slung his duffel onto the richly upholstered couch. "So, do I get the couch or the floor?"  
  
"There is a bedroom through there," Milliardo nodded towards a side door, but then he firmly added, "You may use that room for your things, but I want you to sleep in my bed." He didn't voice it as a question.  
  
"Is it big?" Duo didn't protest. He looked excited and went through an open doorway into Milliardo's bedroom. He ducked back out, incredulous. "Okay, that's small..."  
  
"Not too small," Milliardo replied with a sensuous smile. "In fact, it will keep you within easy reach."  
  
Duo smirked. "Wanna try it out?"  
  
Milliardo shook his head. "Work first. We have to oversee the storage of the hull. I also have to check in with Preventers. They'll expect a report."  
  
Duo sighed as he grabbed his duffel and slung it into the spare bedroom. He adjusted himself in his pants. "Sorry guys," he told his crotch and then told Milliardo, "Get changed then, we're going to get dirty. They won't lock it down for us, so we'll have to strap and bolt it into its storage bay."  
  
Milliardo nodded as he moved into his bedroom to change into plainer clothing. He was tired from the long journey, but Duo seemed to be still full of energy. Milliardo envied him. The bed looked inviting and he imagined himself curled up with Duo there. It made him feel warm and happy, his life finally not so empty and devoid of promise.  
  
"Good memories?" Duo snickered as he came to stand at his elbow.  
  
"I hope there will be," Milliardo replied with a chuckle and slipped off his dress shirt. Duo slid around his tall, muscled body, and massaged his pale nipples from behind. They turned into hard nubs instantly and Milliardo shivered.  
  
Duo licked Milliardo's back in one long stroke across his broad shoulder. "You make things sound so good. Like I'm the best thing you ever had."  
  
Milliardo caught Duo's hands and pressed them to his chest. "You are, Duo."  
  
Duo bit lightly and then let him go. "I can only say, 'Good fuck.' or 'Let's fuck.' or-"  
  
"Don't," Milliardo growled and Duo, who had been walking towards the living room, looked back at him in surprise. "You want to make it physical, crude, to protect yourself. You need to be braver than that, Maxwell."  
  
Duo made a motion as if he were taking his heart out of his chest. He laid the imaginary heart on the floor. "That brave enough? Gonna do a tap dance on it, now? People either fuck me and then tell me to kiss off or they die. I don't know anything else."  
  
Milliardo sighed. "I can only show you by staying with you. I can't do that if you run away."  
  
"You could tattoo my name on your ass," Duo snickered and there was a hard glint in his eyes. "That's kind of permanent."  
  
"If that's what it takes," Milliardo replied calmly and Duo went wide eyed, as if he couldn't tell whether he was joking or not, "But you would have to do the same."  
  
"Like wedding rings?" Duo regained his humor and continued out of the room, tossing over his shoulder. "Wedding tattoos... I'll think about it."  
  
+  
  
"Throw that over here, this needs tightening up!" Duo called as he balanced precariously on an upper deck of the hull. The entire weight of it was resting in a sling harness and they had been trying to get it positioned into a dry dock ring for the last two days. It was dipping, the weight of repairs versus the bare skeleton still needing them, making the entire piece unbalanced.  
  
Milliardo tossed a tool from where he was perched, a large section of hull missing between them. Duo caught the tool unerringly and continued trying to adjust a stubborn strut to fit the irregular hull. Milliardo watched him clamber over the metal with the agility of a monkey and felt new respect. He was more cautious, attached by a safety strap and watching each step as he tried for the tenth time to get the crane to turn the hull in the desired position to aid Duo.  
  
"Stop!" Duo called and Milliardo idled the crane.  
  
Leaning against the side of the giant machine, Milliardo wiped sweat from his brow. He decided, as he heard Duo let loose a string of curses, that it was time for a break and a look at specs to determine how best to continue. The ground crew was eyeing them as if they were a sideshow, well aware that Prince Milliardo Peacecraft and a one time Gundam pilot were doing what amounted to grunt work. They were probably wondering why they were doing the job themselves, unaware that Milliardo was heartily wishing that he could pay someone to finish the work. He knew that this was laying the groundwork for their budding relationship though, and that it was a reason to keep Duo in his sight at all times.  
  
Twice Milliardo had found Duo talking to a burly worker. The man had laughed at his jokes, winked broadly, and had reached out a huge hand to squeeze Duo's ass while they talked. Milliardo had thrown something down both times to clatter near Duo. Getting his attention, Milliardo had loudly ordered Duo back topside to do his job. Duo hadn't rebelled, but he had looked preoccupied afterward. Milliardo knew then that he had picked out the worker for his 'safety net'. Frustration at this new development had made Milliardo short tempered and anxious to finish. He needed to have them both home. A good session in bed would go a long way to reassuring Duo, he felt.  
  
"Fuck!" Duo suddenly shouted as the hull tipped sharply downward. A strut gave way under the weight and Duo went flying head over heels off the side of it. His hand snagged out and caught a ragged edge of fiber insulation. He was brought up short, but there was a loud rip of material . It wasn't going to hold his weight for long and Duo was high enough to make any fall fatal.  
  
"Idiot!" Milliardo swore as he unhooked his own safety harness and made the leap between sections. He barely made it, rolling and hitting metal hard enough for bone deep bruises. He came to his hands and knees, then, and scrambled across the still listing hull towards Duo.  
  
"Stop!" Duo shouted. "It's giving way! The whole hull might come down!"  
  
"Your fault!" Milliardo snarled. "You sold me a non regulation hull! That's why it's breaking the struts!"  
  
"Not me!" Duo snarled back "Lori! That old son of a bitch will never freakin' learn that if he gets a part cheap, there's a goddam reason for it!"  
  
The sound of stressed metal, and the clang of the hull hitting equipment, set off an alarm system. As Milliardo leaned over the side of the hull, he could see ground crews scrambling to get clear. Satisfied that he didn't have that to worry about them, he turned all of his attention on saving Duo.  
  
"Get the hell out of here!" Duo was shouting up at him, furious. "It's gonna give and you're gonna die!"  
  
Milliardo shrugged as he found Duo's discarded safety harness and attached it to himself. There wasn't any wisdom in locking himself to a hull that was close to collapse, but he was out of any other ideas. He quickly lowered himself to where Duo was swinging and caught him. The insulation was almost ripped through. He had been that close to losing him.  
  
"Damn!" Milliardo breathed and couldn't help squeezing Duo in a tight embrace, despite their danger. "If you ever refuse to use a harness again-"  
  
"Didn't think about it," Duo admitted as they slowly began climbing back up. "I'm used to light gravity repairs. A fall will hurt you, not kill you."  
  
The swaying hull twisted and a strut went clattering to the deck. "Faster," Milliardo urged. "We need to lock her down before she goes completely."  
  
"Why?" Duo wondered acidly. "She's warped.... useless for docking anywhere. Let her fall and collect the insurance."  
  
"She's mine," Milliardo insisted, "and she's a danger. Lock her down."  
  
As they climbed back onto the upper hull, they both kept their feet on the sloping, moving hull with the ease of veterans. "Let her tip," Duo suggested. "Drop her down with the crane and let her sit on her nose. We can have her cut up then, still in the sling."  
  
There was a danger in that too. The sling wasn't meant for the full weight of a hull to hang in that position. "Someone needs to keep the straps clear," Milliardo pointed out.  
  
"My job," Duo volunteered.  
  
"Mine too," Milliardo said.  
  
Duo was breathing hard and sweating, but his hands were already working at the sling. "Who's going to work the crane?" he wondered.  
  
"Your new boyfriend," Milliardo replied with a bite to his tone and called down for the burly man to climb up and man the crane.  
  
Duo snorted. "I only have one and that's you."  
  
"When did you decide that?" Milliardo asked as he helped Duo. "While gorilla there was squeezing your ass, or when he was asking you to go out back for a quick fuck?"  
  
Duo gave the burly man a glance as the man took the controls with a nervous eye towards the swinging hull. "When you risked your life to save my ass," Duo replied with a grin. "Nothing to gain, everything to lose. I say that proves everything I wanted proof for."  
  
Milliardo felt an overwhelming emotion surge through him, hot and powerful. He reached out, caught Duo by the braid and yanked him in for a fierce kiss. He devoured Duo's lips with bruising force and then let go as they quickly went back to work.  
  
+  
  
"I hurt," Duo groaned. Back at Milliardo's apartment, he flopped face down on the bed. The operation had been successful. The hull that they had worked so hard on, was now slated to be cut up for scrap and parts. It had been hard work, though, and it had taken up the rest of the day.  
  
Milliardo pulled off Duo's shoes and socks, and then stripped him of his overalls. Duo never moved, just sighed contentedly with the loss of every piece of clothing. When he was completely naked, his rounded ass and the long line of his slim waist an enticing display, Milliardo couldn't help climbing on to the bed after him. He kissed the small of Duo's back and ran a tongue in a swirling pattern there.   
  
"Salty," Milliardo chuckled as he stood on all fours over Duo, letting his long, pale hair fall over him like a curtain as he nuzzled between Duo's shoulder blades.  
  
"Sweaty and stinky," Duo said with a grimace, but his tone held a note of interest in what Milliardo was doing, especially when Milliardo opened his pants and let a weighty erection rub along his thighs. "You can keep doing that," Duo moaned.  
  
"I intend to do a lot more," Milliardo breathed and reached over towards the side table and the bottle of lube.  
  
"Inhuman," Duo mumbled against the bed sheets.   
  
"Hard work makes me... excited," Milliardo admitted. "So does men who've been working hard."  
  
"Sure it's not that whole, 'almost died', adrenalin rush?" Duo wondered.  
  
"Could be that as well." Milliardo licked along Duo's ear, "Or it could be hearing the man I love finally say that he trusts me."  
  
"Yeah," Duo chuckled. "I can see how that would be a turn on."  
  
Milliardo slicked his erection and teased Duo's entrance with it. Poised above Duo, and ready to push in, he said, "I will never give you cause to regret that trust."  
  
Duo lifted his hips, shoulder muscled bunching as he braced himself. "Less talk, more humping."  
  
"Push it into you," Milliardo told him. "Fill yourself with me, Duo."  
  
Duo's breath caught and a flush of excitement traveled down his back. He adjusted his angle and then impaled himself, inch by slow inch, breath catching now and again as his body stretched to take it. When Milliardo was fully in, he leaned down to rest against Duo's back, one hand sliding underneath to cup Duo's balls and then stroke his rock hard erection.  
  
Duo shuddered. "It's like..." He stopped, confused.  
  
"Like what?" Milliardo breathed, waiting, feeling Duo's erection dripping with need.  
  
"Like you own me," Duo choked. "But different. I'm yours, but not like I'm just a place to put your big dick. I can tell..."  
  
"You can tell that I love you, want you, not just for sex?" Milliardo guessed.  
  
"Yeah, exactly," Duo said, but then he was pushing back into Milliardo. "Which is great, but I wanna fuck too. Giddup, Mill. Dock that big thing."  
  
Milliardo chuckled at the image of o rings and docking tubes and then Duo wiggled his hips and slammed back into him. That was enough. Milliardo growled and began thrusting into the smaller body beneath him. Smaller, but just as strong, just as in control, as Duo met every thrust with a backward push of his own. Their bodies made a rapid slapping sound, both of them moaning, Duo riding a hard, long length of flesh and Milliardo reveling in the tight, hot sheath he was thrusting into. They both came explosively and then lay together, breathing hard.  
  
"Now we stink and we're covered in goo," Duo snickered as he rubbed his spent erection and held up a handful of come. He was surprised when Milliardo took two of Duo's fingers into his mouth. He sucked them clean and then let them go, laughing at the glazed look in Duo's eyes and his slack jaw.  
  
"Can I please be your bitch forever and ever?" Duo breathed.  
  
"My love you mean?" Milliardo corrected him with a scowl.  
  
"Yeah, that too," Duo replied sheepishly.  
  
"It's required already," Milliardo told him in all seriousness.  
  
Duo blinked and then asked, confused, "It is?"  
  
Milliardo rolled and showed Duo his left buttock. There was a tattoo there, raw and new, a twining circular pattern with Duo's name boldly centered there in a cursive script.  
  
"You shit, you did it!" Duo exclaimed and then laughed. "No one's ever going to believe me when I tell them!"  
  
"They don't have to," Milliardo told him as he cupped Duo's chin and brought him close for a kiss. "You're the only one that matters."  
  
Duo searched his eyes and then he brought Milliardo's hand down to his right ass cheek. "Think a matching one will look good right here. Not that I'm putting Milliardo on the thing. Zechs will be a lot less painful."  
  
"M.P.?" Milliardo suggested with a laugh. "That's even less painful."  
  
Duo was suddenly in Milliardo's arms and holding him tightly. "For you, I think I can stand a little pain.... maybe a lot."  
  
Milliardo suddenly knew that they weren't talking about tattoos any more. "No more pain," he promised. "No more safety nets or band aids."  
  
Duo believed him. Milliardo could tell by the way that Duo gripped him, sure and strong. He determined to never disappoint him.   
  
THE END


End file.
